Russiagate Was About Bernie?

For John, BLUF:  Yes, this is months old, but given the story is still evolving.  And looking to the future?  This whole Russiagate thing just gets curiouser and curiouser.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

So the Russians wanted Bernie Sanders elected president in 2016 all along...

From The American Thinker, by Ms Monica Showalter, 16 April 2019.

Here is the lede plus four:

A couple days ago, former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy had a stunning piece on the arrest of Julian Assange and what that could really mean for understanding what was going on with the Russians during the 2016 elections that Democrats made such a stink about.

In a piece for Fox News, he wrote:

Prior to the publication of the stolen Democratic-party emails and internal documents, Julian Assange and WikiLeaks exhorted Russian government hackers to send them “new material.”

That is what we are told by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of Russian intelligence officers.  (I won’t offend anyone by calling them “spies” — after all, they were just doing electronic surveillance authorized by their government, right?)  Assange wanted the Russians to rest assured that giving “new material” to WikiLeaks (identified as “Organization 1” in the indictment) would “have a much higher impact than what you are doing” — i.e., hacking and then putting the information out through other channels.

But time was of the essence.  It was early 2016.  If Hillary Clinton was not stopped right there and then, WikiLeaks warned, proceedings at the imminent Democratic national convention would “solidify bernie supporters behind her.”  Of course, “bernie” is Bernie Sanders, the competitor who could still get the nomination.  But if Assange and the Russians couldn’t raise Bernie’s prospects, WikiLeaks explained, Mrs. Clinton would be a White House shoo-in:  “We think trump has only a 25% chance of winning against hillary . . . so conflict between bernie and hillary is interesting.”

My friend, Jeff Levy, Colonel, USAF (retired), pointed out to me that a thorough Mishap Board (Accident Investigation Team) often uncovers far more than just why the aircraft crashed.  And so it is with Russiagate.  .

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff